Today, protests are underway in cities across the world. For background on why we're occupying to Shut Down The Corporations and the American Legislative Exchange Council, see here. Follow @F29PDX, @OccupyWallSt, @OWSTactical, #F29 (#29F for European actions), and #ALEC on Twitter. Because there are large numbers of decentralized actions today, we will do our best to make updates and include links to individual livestreams below.

As an overview, the actions today varied from sit-ins and pickets to street theater and banner drops. There were many creative actions including a foreclosure on Citibank, a “Corporate Debutant Ball” in Salt Lake City, teach-ins in Norman, OK and Naples, FL, actions targeting Pfizer, the Koch Brothers and Bank of America in New York, and a delicious Ice Cream Bloc in Oakland. Three distribution centers of Wal-Mart were shut down in a coordinated southern California action, as well as the World Corporate Headquarters of Pfizer in Connecticut. Further ALEC corporations targeted included Monsanto in Washington D.C., AT&T in Kansas City, MO and Atlanta, an action at the BP trial in New Orleans, Bank of America in Charlotte, PNM in Alburqurque, Altria in Richmond, and Peabody Coal in St. Louis. Dozens of other cities took action as part of F29 including Denver, Minneapolis, Louisville, Winston-Salem, and many others. We are proud to say the tone of the actions today remained jubilant and focused even in the face of police repression.

Live Updates

9:00AM EST, March 1st: Here are a few more highlights we missed from yesterday's highly successful mobilizations: Four people were arrested in Kansas City while occupying an AT&T building; Occupiers joined indigenous communities to protest land theft and ecological abuses at a Nevada coal plant; at least one person was arrested in Denver after protests against pharmaceutical corporations; New Orleans protested at the BP trial; three Portland protesters chained themselves to a Wells Fargo after 1000s marched on several ALEC-affiliated corporations; and so much more!

5:40PM EST: via @F29PDX: "Here's what's happening now: March in Las Vegas; direct action in Rockland, MA; march in Norfolk, VA; Rally in Gainesville, FL, rally and march in Phoenix, AZ; Rally in Minneapolis, MN; protest against Fletcher-Daniels in Kansas City, MO; and march in Portland! Follow Shut Down the Corporations for more updates tonight.

5:10PM EST: Two arrested at huge march in Portland. Occupy Las Vegas shuts down Walmart.

4:20PM EST:UC-Davis protesters shut down a U.S. Bank. Heavy police presence in Portland as police on motorcycles and bicycles try to cut off march and force protesters onto sidewalks. Some Occupiers have broken through police lines. Crowd estimated in 1000s. (Portland livestream). Oakland is off to shut down some banks. (Oakland livestream). Occupy DC has returned to Walmart construction site to continue protest.

3:50PM EST: General Assembly underway at occupied university in Barcelona. Anti-ALEC demos getting started in more cities and towns across the US. Occupiers in New Hampshire will target Koch brother-funded Americans for Prosperity. Numbers grow in Portland despite rain. Occupy Boston heading to City Hall to demand: "No HIKES! No CUTS! No Layoffs" in public transit at 6pm.

3:10PM EST: Police attack retreating Walmart protesters in SoCal, who had already declared victory by shutting down all targets. Some arrested while falling back as police rush forward with pepper guns loaded. Some Occupiers injured and seen limping away from police line. Others being treated by medics for bruises from baton strikes. Crowd dwindling as most protesters leave, some running to their cars.

2:50PM EST: Police move in on SoCal protesters with batons drawn, push back and begin kettling protesters. Police seen on livestream cutting off escape routes, using unnecessary force against protesters who are trying to follow dispersal orders, and aiming pepper-ball guns at nonviolent protesters. Crowds also assembling in Portland.

2:10PM EST: Standoff continues at Walmart warehouse in SoCal. via Occupy The Hood LA: ‏ @OTH_LosAngeles Keep in mind Riot Gear police came in while Occupy protesters were having a block party with music and discussion #PoliceState #FTP.

2:00PM EST: Occupy Oakland will rally at noon PST ar Snow Park to shut down the banks, and 6pm PST at Oscar Grant Park for a Funeral for Capitalism. OWS NYC continues to occupy Bryant Park in front of BoA tower. Eight arrests were made outside Pfizer R&D facility in Connecticut after multiple CT Occupations protest. Actions have also begun across Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico targeting ALEC's connection to racist anti-immigrant legislation and for-profit prisons. (Phoenix livestream)

1:30PM EST: Peaceful SoCal demo has been declared "unlawful" by riot cops who have kettled protesters and given dispersal orders despite being surrounded on all sides. In NYC, protesters run up to AT&T to decry anti-union policies.

12:00PM EST: Large crowd in Pittsburgh protesting drastic cuts in public transit system, including potential shut-down of 35% of services, half of all routes, and 500 jobs. (Pittsburgh livestream). Orlando begins march on BoA. (Orlando livestream).

11:00AM EST:DC will regroup at Walmart construction site (Georgia & Missouri NW) at 3pm, and at Friendship Heights metro at 7pm. Pfizer HQ in NYC completely surrounded by police barricades, area around shut down by massive police presence and protesters. March now headed back to Bryant Park to prepare for BoA shutdown. SoCal has shutdown a third Walmart distro center, reports "all targeted warehouses closed for the day." Austin begins "evict Monsanto" rally.

10:20AM EST: Reports that 2nd warehouse in SoCal is closed! Atlanta begins protest in front of AT&T. March in NYC arrives at Pfizer (43rd & 3rd), police have set up a kettle. Protesters, joined by doctors for universal health care, are taking the street instead.

10:10AM EST: 10 arrests and Monsanto on lock-down in DC. Police seen barricading Bank of America tower in preparation for demo in NYC.

9:50AM EST: In NYC, march leaves Bryant Park to shut down Pfizer. (NYC Livestream). In So. Cal, Occupiers report one Walmart warehouse closed for the day, now marching to 2nd warehouse. In Europe, unions and labor groups in every EU state begin actions against austerity in Brussels and elsewhere.

9:45AM EST: 400 people from multiple Southern California Occupations including LA, Long Beach, Orange County, and Riverside begin march to shut down Walmart distribution centers in support of non-union warehouse workers. (SoCal Livestream).

9:30AM EST: Student protests have erupted across Spain. The University of Valencia is being occupied by students engaged in a weeks-long campaign to stop cuts and austerity. Students in Valencia were violently attacked by police during peaceful protests in recent weeks. Solidarity demonstrations have also spread in Barcelona, Madrid, and many other cities. In the U.S., arrests already reported in Washington, DC as Occupiers block entrances at Monsanto HQ.

That's what OccupYrCorner San Diego chanted as we walked about the Gaslamp, in Downtown San Diego today to celebrate National Shut Down The Corporations Day! A group of Occupiers took to the sidewalks with signs, walking down 5th, up 4th, through Horton Plaza and to the courthouse, handing out hundreds of flyers and having many, many conversations about the questionable American Legislative Exchange Council to interested passer-by!

Occupy Hilo joins forces with Pele Defense Fund and Malu 'Aina to protest Hawaiian Electric Light Company (HELCO) and the proposed extensive drilling of new geothermal wells in the threatened biosphere of the Puna rainforest on Big Island to send 500MW of electric power via undersea cable to O'ahu. Big Island customers pay over 4x the rate for electric energy that the average mainland customer pays, and the company penalizes customers with rate increases for adding photovoltaic renewable energy resources to the grid.

It is sad to witness the peaceful demise of the Occupy Movement all over the
world. They are all dying a peaceful death. Even the comments on its activities
are getting fewer and fewer. And comments are restricted by a list of rules.

Look at how recent revolutions have succeeded elsewhere. They take on the
government, not peacefully but violently. From there, they gain international
support and become an issue for debate in the UN. Their final victory is
achieved not by peaceful means, but violent military actions, with strong,
open, international assistance.

For OCW movement to succeed like those in the Arab Spring, those who advocate
peaceful means should all be weeded out. They are agents planted in by the
government.

Way to develop a multifaceted opinion on a subject... Would you conduct a 2 month investigation on the origin of an umbrella before you used it? Are you saying an individual that unknowingly owns or uses an item that originated in a sweatshop or corporation is somehow not justified in protesting the existence of sweatshops or unethical corporate activities? Or are you saying that unethical corporate activities and sweatshops are justified because corporations and sweatshops manufacture useful items? We protest to bring awareness and advocate the termination of the lawful existence of some of these injustices and work toward the establishment of regulatory agencies to monitor this sort of activity because each individual can't realistically be expected to perform field research on every common item they use. Maybe think for more than a few seconds before you open your mouth... It increases your chances of delivering a coherent argument.

Who said I was against corporations or wanted them to die? I didn't. You've equated "unethical corporate activity" with "corporations". I get the impression you've misunderstood the entire point of the occupy movement based on this equivocation. Do you think current law is perfect and has taken into account every scenario that has arisen and will arise in the future? Movements exist to bring awareness to new societal interrelationships that emerge as cultures evolve through time. Even if the occupy movement isn't right on all accounts, the essence of the movement brings up a relevant issue that seriously needs to be addressed in our time.

Further down in your replies bloke you say all these dislikes that we all all agree with yet you disdain the left side of politics and the unions.That`s how America got into this Walmart shit by disdaining the left and unions because you were conned to the max by the corporate dream of greed is good Gekko.You sir seem more interested in point scoring than in promotion of the greater cause of a rational discourse in the greater good.Thinking is always a good alternative to going off half cocked.

i've said before that occupy went off base with the, well, occupy piece of the protest. I don't like the violence the anarchy. i don't like the double standards either where Unions, left wing organizations and left wing billionaires can do anything to influence an election and politics and occupy says nothing . Who says conservatives and liberals can't agree on somethings. Open your mind.

Thank you Carlitini for the wing factor,sounds like KFC.I hear they are promoting the new Republican Pack,its chock a block full of right wings only.As far as double standards go,all sides are guilty of those.Now to get the meaning of my drift is to understand that any ism going too far requires moderation.Therefore a re-strengthening of the union movement in America is long overdue so as a fair wage accord is gained.Here in Australia the federal government{ALP=your Democrats}have set up Fair Work Australia.Thats where unresolved disputes go for arbitration and the umpires decision is final.As far as an open mind goes you dont get one more open than mine.Here in Australia greed has become so great that even the Catholic Church has clubs that have poker machines{slots]and we battle a gambling addiction in this country with many politicians calling for a curtailing of these insidious machines.http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/catholic-club-gets-political-for-pokies-20111004-1l7c5.html.One such club made 36 million of it 45 million dollar profit from these gambling machines.Thats how far the right wing of politics will take you.

Unions are doomed in the U.S. in my opinion. Public sector Unions won't be able to raid the public piggy bank anymore and private Unions (i have nothing against private sector unions) are just disappearing due to automation or market forces.

Well Cartilini,I have deduced from our pleasant discourse that belonging to a protest movement is not for you.From just your statements on this page it shows you have a defeatist attitude and protest movements need achievers not procrastinators.Thank you,goodbye and go away.

Thanks...I never really left for very long though. I started that $10 an hour min. wage thread which is once again wearing me down. I guess I'm a devil for punishment. Carlitini was easy pickings...and I could not pass the opportunity up. You need that low hanging fruit once in a while. I may have learned that in Berri, South Australia all those years ago. hee

Odin, Odin, what are we to do with you? Liberalism is a mental disorder so i don't expect you to know what morals are. abortion on demand, perversion, state mandated values, drugs those are liberal values, but not Morals in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

You think the whole thing is rubbish and you make that clear every time time you spew your distortions and bullshit. That includes every single post you have written. You are a troll, and mentally disturbed.

not really, occupy could be good for America, they don't like the financial industry (i don't either), they don't like 'made in China' i don't either, they don't like out sourcing , i don't either, they don't like rich people and institutions influencing elections, they don't like the main stream media, i don't either. The difference between occupy and me is that occupy supports many of those things if they come from the left (Unions, Soros..)

Cartilini, Cart....yes I may be crazy to think that people that preach morals are the same ones that have them. Are the conservatives like Newt, Rush, and all the married preachers that can't keep their bic in their pants around their pretty young assistants the ones I should learn my morals from?...And how about all the priests who preyed on so many children for oh so long...and the shameful attempted cover-up? Yes, I have discovered from my years on this planet that...those that preach the loudest about values and morality are usually the worst offenders. And just for the record, I voted for as many repubs as I did for dems in the last election. PS Knowing what I do, about people that preach morals....what are you doing Sat. night? ;-)

of course your examples are true, everything is relative. conservatives aren't perfect but as a rule are more moral then liberals. if morals are rules and norms passed down by society and civilization, a conservative by definition would be more apt to follow those rules. Look at the tea party protest versus the occupy protest. one is organized and orderly the other stinky, violent, drug infested and illegal.

First, I do not agree with all of the positions that OWS espouses in the same way that I do not agree with everything that the dems, repubs, or for that matter even my three daughters have. I do not believe in 'anything goes' where parents let their young daughters dress like little harlots, but if not for liberals...do you think you would be wearing jeans today, as 50-60 years ago that was totally unacceptable for women to wear pants. Civilizations advance, and yes not always for the better. You will never find a perfect fit in either a party, movement, or a canidate. It does seem to me though that the conservatives have a particular cant in their preaching that I find particularly annoying, especially in the way the religious right supports them and the values that they are constantly trying to cram down everyone's throat, while they run around screwing us all both literally and figuratively. To me religious fanaticism ... no matter where it comes from... is dangerous, and it is the cause of many of the problems in this country and in the world today....and throughout history for that matter.

Agreed, the Tea Party is much better behaved than OWS, but it was the tea party's aim to influence the system from within. We...OWS.. know that system is too broken, and our goals are too sweeping...to be fixed from within our corrupt system...at least at this point. This movement whether you view it as unrealistic or not has a much more agressive agenda, hence it is defiant of a corrupt system which both liberals and conservatives supported and benefited from, at the expense of the rest of us. We are looking at changes that go right to the heart of what a democracy and government are suppose to be ...representative of the people. We do realize that their are many people that benefit from the corrupt status quo, and hence this will not be easy. We are determined though. Anyway you and many other people on both sides of this movement seem to want to keep this a partisan war, perhaps because that is the only battleground we have ever known. This is not that for me and many others in OWS.....rather this is about right and wrong, and whether you look at it from a cons or a lib point of view....what has been going on in this country for the past thirty years or more is wrong...terribly wrong.

You seem to want to pass off this movement and its members as being "stinky, violent, and drug infested" whiners. I assure you that is not the case. This movement at its core has some of the brightest and best young people that are in this country today.In my many trips to NYC, I have met some of these people that have graduated from some of the best universities in the east including Yale, NYU,
Fordham (where one of my daughters graduated from), and even one of the Royal (somehting or other school) in London. There are kids less than half my age that know exactly how the 2008 melt-down occurred, and the part our crooked politicians and the corrupt banks played in it. More and more this is being joined by older people like myself who have done the right thing in life, but realize that our country is and has been heading in the wrong direction. You might think that this can all be fixed from within...we know better.

i think that there is a difference between the Occupy protesters and the Occupy intellectual protesters (the ones that aren't on the street). Like i've said, i agree with some of Occupy's ideas, but the actual physical Occupy protest (the aforementioned stinky ones), forget about it they only hurt the cause.

occupy is no revolutionary war, nor women's suffrage nor civil rights movement. Sorry its a joke that you even compare it to those honorable movements. actually its insulting. maybe, compare occupy to the 60's hippie protest against the war and the loons that came out of that (weatherman). groups that never will be mentioned positively in the history books. Sorry!

"Hurt the cause", perhaps, but this movement has a very multi-faceted approach. Some people will definitely be turned off by some of our tactics. That can't be helped. We are not here to conduct business as usual, as we know that things are far too screwed up for that modus operandi. However as long as the thrust of this movement remains non-violent civil disobedience, I believe it will succed in the end, as there are a lot of people out there that are very frustrated about the way things are in this country today...and they are beginning to understand what this is all about and hence how the people can be empowered to make the sea change we need in this country.

You mistakenly believe that the "intellectuals", and the people in the streets are two different people. Of course, all the members of OWS have a roll to play according to the talents they have. For some, they are mostly in the streets, others knit hats for protesters, some handle the live-stream coverage, others donate money, food, or housing for them. NONE of us... that I know of are above being out in the streets...and those of us that get arrested are celebrated as heroes for the cause.

Pull up the video on YouTube of the three young ladies getting nonchalantly pepper-sprayed by Officer Bologna of the NYPD. Do they look like "stinky" druggies to you? They don't to me. In all my visits to Zuccotti Park/Liberty Square and all the demonstrations I have been in, I can honestly say that I did not see in any evidence of either drug or alcohol use..with the exception of New Year's eve when someone had smuggled in a bottle of Champagne that everyone was sprayed down with at minight.

I fully expect to get arrested for an act of peaceful civil disobedience...and when I do....a copy of that arrest warrant will be placed in the chest that I keep all the family tree stuff in..... as it will be a part of the legacy that I leave to my children and grandchildren. Some things in life Cartilini are worth fighting for...this is one of them for me.

sorry can't agree with you. the physical occupy cost the taxpayer's money, put people at unnecessary risk (no police protection because they are busy w/ the protesters), destroy property and are violent. unfortunately ,the evidence is against you, the police have held back more so than eve, and some of the occupiers have been violent.

There is no doubt in my mind that had you lived during the time of the Revolutionary War that you would have been a Tory,... or during The Women's Suffrage Movement, you would have been a beer swilling, woman-degrading, macho man,.... and during the Civil Right's movement that you were a racist. For you...change is frightening...you would much rather live in the screwed up little world that your mind lives in than to take a chance for something better. Nothing....nada... is worth fighting for. It's called cowardness. No hard feelings though...like you said, "we are all Americans."

Once again there was no "reply" under your latter post. I can see that it was no mistake now on your part. The best way to further your uninformed opinion is to ignore the facts, and continue to live in your misinformed world. I am so glad that my brain has not become calcified like yours.

There's no "reply" under the the last misinformed comment that you made....Anyway I will reply to that comment here instead.---- I disagree...there are strong parallels between the Occupy movement, and the 1.The Revolutionary War.2..The Women's Suffrage, and the 3. the Civil Rights movement.

Let's see what the similarities are:

Our Revolutionary ancestors did not like taxation without representation. Talk about lawless - Imagine stealing a bunch of tea, and then throwing it in the drink'! WOW...and violent GEE - OWS does not like a country that puts corporate interest ahead of the people's 'interests. That's close 'eh?

The Women Suffragettes did not like to be discriminated against by a bunch of macho men. Those feisty women were known to be quite unruly too! At the risk of being attacked by my fellow OWS member GirlFriday: "HELL hath no fury like a woman scorned", does it? - OWS doesn't like being discriminated against by the big bankers, and our politicians that worked in complicity with them. - pretty close again, don't you think??

and 3. The people in the Civil Rights movement found it intolerable to be treated so unfairly. They weren't afraid to break unjust laws either, as witnessed by the Freedom Bus Rides, and the permitless marches, etc. - We the people in OWS find our situation intolerable too.. I could go on and on, on the similarities, but I know I am wasting my time, as I also know that you do not want the facts to get in the way of your opinion.

There is a major difference between those movements, and ours though and that is: You could take all the people that got screwed by the injustices in those three struggles... and multiply it by ten....and still you would not have near as many people who got screwed by our corrupt political and financial institutions.

Think of all the people that lost their chance for a golden retirement...the people that lost their kid's tuition money..their jobs...their homes...their businesses, etc...not just in this country but all over the world...and it could all happen again, only much worse next time. THEN...after you have given that some thought ....THINK about all the people that are sleeping in their cars tonight... and all the tent cities that have popped up across the country....and all while we tap blithely away on our LTs....and these people are not there for political reasons like the Occupiers..Cartlitini. Rather...they are there because they have no other place else to go.

You say that you agree with some of our positions. What could they be? Are you oblivious to the terrible consequences that people have been forced to endure because of the criminal malfeasance of our politicians and big bankers? Is anything worth fighting for in your book, ANYTHING?? That was only a rhetorical question. I already know the answer Cartelini.

Odin,this person is no OWS anything.This is the Tea Party or religious right wing being disruptive.Unable to fathom zilch as the cause of this massive meltdown of global Democracy.Agents Provocateurs are employed by police,political movements,the church,vested interests so forth.We have a live one,and there will be others.

in my humble opinion OWS will go down in the history books as a side note. OWS lost its focus no one knows what they are about. Tea Party message is simple lower taxes, smaller government; OWS's not so simple, kill wall street, tax the rich, no military, no Israel, anti-business, anti-law and order, anti-america, anti-semite, free contraception, free health care, free university education, chaos...... There is nothing honorable about a bunch of people who want free stuff and the expense of others.